GDPR is nearly here – how can your business accelerate GDPR compliance?

GDPR regulations are coming into force next year. But many organizations are unprepared for the changes, which could have serious implications on GDPR compliance. Here’s how Low-coders can make sure they’re ready.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – is coming into force on the 25th May 2018, but how much do you actually know about the European Union’s latest major piece of legislation? And is your organization ready for the changes?

GDPR is designed to protect all EU citizens’ personal data held anywhere in the world. But the regulation doesn’t stop there. The way we collect, store and process EU citizen data also falls under the new rules, and will have a significant impact on all organizations operating or trading within the EU.

With less than 12 months to act, you need to be prepared and start making changes – now. The clock is ticking…

What will the changes mean for you?

Simply – anyone handling personal data will be responsible for how it’s protected. And heavy penalties will be given to any organizations in breach – €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover.

The regulation incorporates seven rights:

To be informed – organizations need to be transparent with people whose data they hold

Access – allowing people to access their held data at any time

Rectification – notifying of sharing data with third parties

Erasure – also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’

Restrict processing – people can block their data from being processed

To object – including public interest, direct marketing and scientific or historical research

3 stage process to coordinate and streamline compliance

We understand how important this legislation is to our customers (after all, handling data makes up a large part of what they do). So, we’ve developed a three stage process to help businesses simplify GDPR compliance:

The ICO has published the 12 steps businesses should undertake to ensure compliance, but how do you keep track of all these activities? You could create your own quality and compliance management system quickly and easily using MATS Low-code. This will build a clear picture of which systems are compliant and create a report of non-compliance for regular review by the CIO. MATS can also publish relevant training and policy information to the members of staff who need to sign off. This ensures progress is continually communicated and tracked as you go.

Many organizations will find it’s not just business systems that are affected – personal data are often stored, transferred and processed manually using email and spreadsheet workarounds. Ad-hoc, manual or simply clunky processes should be automated – which will reduce compliance risk and improve processes at the same time. MATS Low-code is an ideal technology choice for automation because it enables cross-functional teams to build solutions up to 10x faster than traditional methods.

Outdated systems that can’t be upgraded are going to cause issues. By upgrading to MATS applications, you will be safe in the knowledge that your data is being protected and optimized for best use.

This is a quick guide to those 12 steps you can take now.

Preparing for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

steps to take now

Awareness

You should make sure that decision makers and key people in your organisation are aware that the law is changing to the GDPR. They need to appreciate the impact this is likely to have.

Information you hold

You should document what personal data you hold, where it came from and who you share it with. You may need to organise an information audit.

Communicating privacy information

You should review your current privacy notices and put a plan in place for making any necessary changes in time for GDPR implementation.

Individuals’ rights

You should check your procedures to ensure they cover all the rights individuals have, including how you would delete personal data or provide data electronically and in a commonly used format.

Subject access requests

You should update your procedures and plan how you will handle requests within the new timescales and provide any additional information.

Lawful basis for processing personal data

You should identify the lawful basis for your processing activity in the GDPR, document it and update your privacy notice to explain it.

Consent

You should review how you seek, record and manage consent and whether you need to make any changes. Refresh existing consents now if they don’t meet the GDPR standard.

Children

You should start thinking now about whether you need to put systems in place to verify individuals’ ages and to obtain parental or guardian consent for any data processing activity

Data breaches

You should make sure you have the right procedures in place to detect, report and investigate a personal data breach.

Data Protection by Design and Data Protection Impact Assessments

You should familiarise yourself now with the ICO’s code of practice on Privacy Impact Assessments as well as the latest guidance from the Article 29 Working Party, and work out how and when to implement them in your organisation.

Data Protection Officers

You should designate someone to take responsibility for data protection compliance and assess where this role will sit within your organisation’s structure and governance arrangements. You should consider whether you are required to formally designate a Data Protection Officer.

International

If your organisation operates in more than one EU member state (ie you carry out cross-border processing), you should determine your lead data protection supervisory authority. Article 29 Working Party guidelines will help you do this.

MATS GDPR: policy from the professionals

GDPR has far-reaching consequences for Low-code environments. At MATS, we’ve been hard at work mastering GDPR, so we can provide a seamless service for our customers, while maintaining full compliance.

Luckily, our history of working in highly regulated markets gives us a head start, and now we’re leading the way for compliance in Low-code.

We’ve commissioned a third-party security consultancy to provide a gap analysis of GDPR for the MATS platform, the surrounding architecture and MATS internal processes. And, as a result, we’ve produced a new policy document that outlines all you need to know about how MATS is meeting the regulations.

Find out more about getting GDPR compliant

To find out more about getting GDPR compliant with MATS book a demo today.